Jacob's Bet
by Captain Len
Summary: Jack is still the General in charge of Stargate Command, Ba'al features later and this is an SJ fic. This is AU, Vala appears as well. bit of ValaDaniel. Plz r and r!
1. Chapter 1 Trap

AN: First Stargate fic I hope you enjoy it, plz read and review.  
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters!

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Chapter 1  
Trap

"Unscheduled off world activation, unscheduled off world activation. General O'Neill to the gate room." Brigadier General Jonathon "Jack" O'Neill sighed he never seemed to get any peace and quiet_. This was his birthday for crying out loud why couldn't he just enjoy it like most normal people do. No instead some team or something was trying to get through the stargate and not at a predetermined time. He had given all the teams a warning about this before they went out that day, but obviously one of them had disregarded him._

"Unscheduled offworld activation, General O'Neill to the gate room." The voice now sounded really angry so he thought he had better go and see who it was.

"Hey I'm here, has any IDC been given yet?" Jack asked expectantly.

"Yes sir, it is SG-1 requesting access," said Walter.

"Open the iris then Walter," said Jack exasperated "what else would we have done?"

"Well I am not allowed to open the iris on an unscheduled activation without authorisation," said Walter.

"Who the hell made that regulation?" Jack asked.

"Umm you did sir," said Walter "after someone opened the iris and we had that whole horrible situation with the gate room being quite damaged."

"Ah. Sorry gotta go, have to debrief SG-1, they were looking for ancient weapons!" said Jack. Jack wondered what had made his flagship team come back so early from that mission. Heck they had only gone that morning so they couldn't have found that much so quickly. He hurried up to the briefing room where he knew his team would be waiting.

Jack walked into the briefing room to find Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter, Dr Daniel Jackson and Teal'c all sitting down at the table awaiting his arrival. Daniel had been reading some ancient book of his, while the other two were engaged in a quiet conversation. They all looked up as he entered.

"So what was so important as to stop my having a good birthday plan? Huh huh? I never have a peaceful birthday and this was gonna be it but you had to ruin it so Colonel, Teal'c, Daniel what did you find?" said Jack.

"Uh sorry sir but there was no point in us staying on that planet any longer. However, it is safe to say that there is definitely something worth having on P23X981," said Sam.

"I am feeling a but moment coming on," Jack replied.

"But we cannot seem to work out what it is because we cannot work it," explained Daniel.

"So who can then?" Jack asked eagerly.

"Colonel Carter has come up with a theory, but I do not believe that it will please you O'Neill," said Teal'c entering into the conversation for the first time. At this Jack fell silent thinking that if Teal'c had said this then it must be true and for the first time he didn't want to know what Sam said. However, he had to hear it and he could not get away with it.

"I believe that the only people who can work whatever it is have to have the ancient gene. Since you are the only person we know at the moment in this complex to have the gene then you will need to come and help," explained Sam.

"How, do you know this?" he asked unexpectedly.

"Well none of us could make any of it work and there didn't look like there was anything wrong with the power source. Hence it was my conclusion that you need the ancient gene," Sam answered proficiently.

"Also I brought back pictures of the writings around the supposed weapons we found and I could just translate the words 'special person' this indicates that they need special people to work them," Daniel said excitedly.

Jack frowned and shook his head. When would Daniel stop being so excited about translating something like this? Anyway Jack thought those two words could mean just about anything and it really does not mean that a special person is required. In fact it could really be describing birthdays or something.

"Daniel the words 'special person' could be talking about anything or nothing; it really does not mean that a special person is needed. Teal'c what do you think?" Jack asked.

Teal'c took a long while to decide what he thought. He understood where Jack was coming from but then he also understood where Daniel and Sam were coming from.

"O'Neill I do not know what to believe however, I do know that it cannot be of any harm to us if you join us in going back to the planet to try out those weapons. That way we will have another go at the weapons and if it turns out that the special gene is needed then you are there to help us," Teal'c spoke diplomatically.

"Ok, ok have it your way. The mission is approved but, you were quite right I really do not like this but I guess nothing I can do about that!" said Jack despondently.

"Jack don't think of it as a bad day 'cause it will be a great day which you will spend on a mission which will end in really cool weapons!!!" said Daniel trying to cheer Jack up. At this Jack brightened up a little and in a bit more of a good mood said "dismissed," and left the room to get ready.

The members of the old SG-1 team came out of the swirling vortex of the stargate at exactly the same speed as they entered. Jack was feeling better especially as everyone at the SGC had complimented him and they had all felt it was really good that he was finally going back through the stargate! It was the first time since he had been promoted to General. The stargate was located in a very pretty area of the planet. It was surrounded by trees and old rocks. It is a peaceful place and quite sunny, no settlements can be seen from the stargate.

"Wow I really miss this, we hardly ever went to worlds this peaceful," said Jack putting on his old hat and sunglasses.

"Yes sir, the artefacts are up that way," Sam pointed out.

"Ok, you take lead," he ordered. Sam lead them through the rainforest and to Jack it seemed like a miracle that she knew where she was going. There were so many god damned trees and they all look alike. Jack caught up with Sam, "Sam how in hell do you know where you are going? Are you completely sure we are going in the right direction because I don't see anything like big rockets or anything this way."

"I am sure I am correct, I have a compass and as long as we continue in this direction for another klick then we will reach our destination. Anyway do you see any 'big rockets' going in any of the other directions, sir?" she said a little playfully.

"No, I guess not although I actually don't see anything apart from trees in any direction," he added.

They continued on into the rainforest in silence, however, it appeared that something was missing. Sam, Daniel and Teal'c noticed something was wrong as soon as they went into the forest and exchanged dark looks. However, they couldn't work out what it was that was wrong until Jack said: "Um is it me or are there literally no animals or anything on this planet?"

At this the rest of the team looked around and listened and were astonished.

"No, I do not believe it is just you O'Neill, but it is very curious," Teal'c finished.

"Well, are you going to tell me what is curious about it?" Jack demanded.

"Jack, what I think Teal'c is trying to tell you is that when we were here before there was lots of wildlife and sounds all around us as we entered the wood. However, now there is none of that, is that right Teal'c?" said Daniel puzzled. Teal'c bowed his thanks for the explanation. Teal'c had his hand on his staff weapon and looked to the East. Daniel had his gun out and looked West while Sam and Jack handled their P90's and looked to the North and South. When suddenly Whoosh! The impact of a staff weapon on a tree was very loud in their ears. At the impact everyone instinctively ducked and looked for the source of the shooting.

Teal'c found it immediately as the weapons fire was coming from the East when suddenly it also came from the West.

"Teal'c, Daniel go back to the South try and get to the stargate and hold it open for us," Jack shouted. With quiet obedience that neither one had been taught by the military as neither one were in the military they moved slowly towards the stargate. Jack and Sam went North trying to force the enemy fire on them and let Daniel and Teal'c escape. Finally a radio signal came from Teal'c:

"O'Neill, we have reached the stargate and there is hardly any Jaffa here. Please advise."

"We will draw their fire towards you, stand by," said Jack. Jack and Sam immediately started looping round to go back the way Daniel and Teal'c had gone. However, they found themselves cut off.

"Um, guys can you help out here, I repeat you don't seem to be making much of a dent," said Sam out of breath.

"Sorry, we don't understand it either, we seem to be taking down loads but there are always more to take their places. Something very strange his happening" said Daniel stopping shooting momentarily.

"DON'T STOP SHOOTING DANIEL, AAAGGGHHH" shouted Jack over the radio.

"O'Neill what is the matter?" asked Teal'c almost calmly.

"The General has been injured in the leg," replied Sam.

"I'm fine don't worry about me," said Jack obviously in pain.

"Uh sir I think you need to get back to the stargate now. That leg doesn't look good sir," said Sam concernedly.

"Sam, I am not sure that getting Jack to the gate will be possible without getting yourselves killed," said Daniel.

"What do you mean, Daniel?" she asked.

"Look for yourself."

She looked out of her hiding place from where she was shooting and what she saw was desolation. The plants and trees had all been hit and there was no recovery for them. There were Jaffa everywhere between them and Daniel and Teal'c. There would be no way they would be able to get to the gate. Her only reaction was "oh crap".

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AN: Have a very Happy New Year everyone! 


	2. Chapter 2 Situation Critical

AN: Well am hoping that you are liking this fic! Again I forgot to say who this was dedicated to, this one is dedicated to Zie and the rest of the old study.  
Disclaimer: See first chapter

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Chapter 2  
Situation critical

"Sam, what shall we do?" asked Daniel desperately trying to think of a plan to get out of the situation "I repeat please advise." Sam also frantically was thinking of plans but she was going through the plans like water, none of them were viable. They would never come out of any of them alive, normally this wouldn't matter but with what was on the planet they needed to tell earth about the weapons and how they could be accessed (in theory). Daniel's insistent voice broke through her thoughts, "Sam, what do you want us to do? We will not be able to hold this position for much longer."

"I have lots of ideas but we wouldn't survive any of them," she replied.

"How is O'Neill, over?" asked Teal'c worriedly.

"It doesn't look good, Teal'c, he will survive but it will take a lot of healing and he can't walk without assistance," she replied "guys you are not going to be able to help us here because we are surrounded and you would be too. So I am ordering you to go back to the SGC and inform everyone what has happened. Then tell General Hammond and get him to come in. He is the only one allowed to open the gate when General O'Neill is captured or in any other state like this one off world."

This unfortunately didn't go down too well with either Teal'c or Daniel. They both protested violently at the same time:

"But Sam, you will almost certainly die if we go but we may all have a chance if we stay," said Daniel.

"I agree," said Teal'c. Jack and Sam were still in their original position but Daniel and Teal'c moved a little bit further towards the stargate as they considered what to do. At this point Jack decided to make a contribution.

"D-a-n-i-e-l," said Jack weakly and in pain.

"Yes, Jack," said Daniel straining to hear.

"Get out of h-e-r-e, that – is – an – order," he replied.

"But Jack?" he asked questioning.

"Daniel – GO – NOW!" Jack was really in pain now and shouting at Daniel had taken most of his energy. Daniel decided that he really couldn't stay after that and it would probably be better if they went back especially as the Jaffa were getting so close and they were not making much of a dent in their numbers anymore especially as they were running out of ammunition.

"Ok, Teal'c send the IDC and GO!" shouted Daniel, getting ready to go through, "guys good luck and we will inform General Hammond." Teal'c went through the stargate at a run and he was closely followed by Daniel.

At the SGC, "Ok everyone, the situation is critical, we have lost General O'Neill and Colonel Carter. All our efforts will be going into recovering them, we have been ordered to call General Hammond to help us," said Daniel in a tone which he hadn't believed that he had. Everyone looked quite startled but as soon as he had stopped speaking everyone had let their military training take over and were going about their work as usual. Daniel moved into Jack's office and picked up the phone, he hit the speed dial for Hammond. "Hammond here,"

"Um, General you are needed at the SGC," replied Daniel.

Hammond heard the anxiety in the familiar voice and said "Daniel, is that you?"

"Yes, sir, Jack and Sam have been taken hostage."

"Ok, I will be right there, um any indication of who?" Hammond asked.

"Unknown Jaffa forces," was Daniel's reply.

"Ok, son," Hammond sighed as he put down the phone, it just occurred to him that Jack and Sam probably didn't have their GDO's anymore and it would not be very easy for them to get back to Earth without someone finding them first. He made his way to his car and sighed again, this was about the hundredth time any part SG-1 had been taken hostage and he was guessing that it would not be the last. However, the fact that they had managed to capture a General made it even worse. SG-1 were his favourite team, although he knew that he shouldn't have favourites in his line of work it was difficult not too with that team. They were the best of the best and hadn't stopped being the best even when Jack made General. Yes they had lost their leader but they still got on fine and they still got into the same amount of trouble without Jack. He sighed and in a way he couldn't help but long for the time when they could stop doing what they were doing and just settle down without someone shooting at them for once.

"Come on sir, just a bit further, then we can have another rest," encouraged Sam. She was quite tired herself so it seemed like an excuse for both of them to rest, she knew they wouldn't make it to the stargate and be safe but she could try.

"I can't, Sam, I have lost all feeling in my leg and I can see you are tiring. There are Jaffa surrounding us and there is no way to the Stargate. So we have to take stock and check our options." Said Jack in a strained voice. He surprised even himself with his use of her first name but reasoned that she wouldn't mind especially in this sort of situation.

"Well we could have a shootout and get more injured or worse dead before Teal'c and Daniel have a chance to help us. Or we could surrender and get tortured for information by a sadistic Goa'uld" said Sam pessimistically.

"Happy choices then especially on my birthday, oh well I guess I think that we should take the choice of have more of a shootout then get captured by the Jaffa forces and get tortured by the sadistic Goa'uld although I would actually prefer if we left out the torture," said Jack resignedly. They both knew that whatever happened would not be nice and they would not get back to the SGC in one piece. They also knew that everyone at stargate command hated leaving any man behind and so they would be searched for and continually prayed for. They moved out and started shooting, until they were both zatted by the Jaffa. They fell over with joint groans and an "agh crap not again" from Jack.

Hammond finally managed to arrive at the SGC after a lot of traffic. He walked into the briefing room to find Daniel and Teal'c talking to some scientists. "Ok, everyone how is the investigation going?" asked Hammond as he was seen by his men.

"Well not that well General, although it is great to see you, we cannot open the Stargate and send a UAV unless we have your authorisation. Now you are here, we can make sure that the planet is ok to search again and then look for Jack and Sam," said Daniel.

"Ok, dial P23X 981 and send a UAV and check out the planet. Then the next thing that you and Teal'c will do is get some sleep," said Hammond seeing the weary faces of half of SG-1 and realising that they hadn't slept in awhile as they were too worried for Jack and Sam, the other half of their family.

"But, sir, we need to analyse the data and then go to the planet,"

"Yes, Daniel but the UAV will be out for at least an hour and you can rest in that time. After the UAV comes back the scientists will analyse the data and by that time you will have rested at least a little and can make your way to the planet," said Hammond forcibly "ok Daniel?"

"Yes sir,"

"Teal'c?"

"Yes, General Hammond we will rest. It is good that you are here sir."

"Thankyou, now to rest."

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AN: well plz r&r cos it twould be awesome! Any criticism is also welcome, thanks. 


	3. Chapter 3 Serenity

AN: Ok the beginning of this chapter is slightly silly, but just had to put it in anyway! Yay Ba'al finally makes an appearance!  
Disclaimer: see chapter 1 as always.

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Chapter 3  
Serenity

Jack and Sam were being pushed along by the Jaffa and they had no idea where they were being taken. Jack was mostly being dragged because he couldn't stay on his feet for a very long amount of time due to his injury. So to take their mind of what was going on Jack suggested that they name the planet.

"I think that it should be called Kay," said Sam.

"Agh gotta think, that is from Star Trek Voyager, the Captain right? Well I quite like that but what about Beka?" asked Jack.

"Hmmm, from Andromeda, nice, but who said it had to be a girls name we could call it Dylan!" said Sam.

"Yeah or how about Serenity from Firefly?" joked Jack ironically.

"Seems twistingly appropriate, ok P23X 981 you are officially renamed Kay, Beka, Dylan, Serenity, Serenity for short," said Sam. By this time the Jaffa were rolling their eyes and one of them even commented "who on Chulak have we captured!" Both Sam and Jack looked round indignantly at this then realised that it must have sounded weird. Suddenly they stopped and the commander of the Jaffa gave the order to burn the bodies. At first Jack and Sam tensed up not knowing what was going to happen then when they realised that the Jaffa were actually going to burn some already dead people they relaxed to a certain extent although they were still very alert. Then they were ringed up to the ship in orbit where they would finally find out what system lord had captured them…

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Hammond looked up as Teal'c and Daniel walked into the control room, they looked better rested if not completely rested yet but he guessed it was a start. "Just in time, I was just about to be briefed on the results of the UAV scan, shall we go into the briefing room? Doctor?" said Hammond.

"Yes, sir of course," said the scientist standing next to the General. They all went into the briefing room in suspense as to whether they would be allowed to go to the planet to look for their friends and team mates. They all sat down at the table with the exception of the scientist who put the UAV scans up on the board.

"Well as you can see here the scans indicate that there is only the normal animal and wildlife left on the planet although the animals are all grouped in the northwest quarter everything else seems normal. I see no reason why we could not go back to the planet," said the doctor.

"Why are all the animals bunching up in one place?" asked Hammond.

"We haven't determined that as yet but it seems that they are bunching where the potential weapon is so I don't think that there is any danger there," she said reassuringly.

"Ok, Teal'c, Daniel you have a permission to go back to the planet taking SG-3 and SG-5 with you. Be ready to go in thirty minutes, dismissed," he added leaving for the control room. Everyone left for different places, with Teal'c and Daniel walking wearily towards the locker rooms. They were spending a lot of time together since they had to leave Jack and Sam on the planet. As they passed various personnel they turned round and looked discreetly at them. When they got to the locker rooms Daniel sat down with a sigh. Teal'c sat down next to him and comforted him with his presence. Then with one accord they got up and changed to get ready to go to the planet.

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"Well, well, well, who have we got here? Jack O'Neill and Samantha Carter. What a surprise." These were the words Jack and Sam were greeted with as soon as they got into the command Centre. Sam immediately felt cold and was very tense, next to her she felt Jack also go very still and coiled as if he were about to spring on the owner of the voice. Her mind went back to primitive thoughts of a knife and acid, she valiantly struggled to bring her thoughts away from such bad images. Sam and Jack exchanged a hard look and Sam felt almost as if her superior officer had gone somewhere that he would never come back from. To her surprise he spoke:

"Ba'al, I should have realised it was you from those Jaffa, what do you want now?" Jack said tensely and through a great deal of pain. Sam felt heartbroken at his voice, she really could not bear it.

"If you must know we captured you only by chance, we were just about to leave having found nothing to our advantage. Then you appeared with the Shol'vah and Daniel Jackson. Well I am not about to complain I quite like surprises like this one. Anything else on your minds?" asked Ba'al. Jack could also feel the anxiety that was coming from Sam and he knew that she was also trying not to think of the knife, acid and the eternity of the sarcophagus. He also tried to keep his mind of those images by trying to work out what the three Jaffa in the corner of the room would try to do if he tried to escape.

"I have to say actually I kind of like the decorating you have done in here, its very nice," said Jack trying desperately to lighten up. He was startled when Sam said: "our friends will find us and when they do you will be for it, finally." There was a certain coldness to her voice and Jack realised she was trying not to show any emotion.

"No for once Samantha Carter you are wrong. Your friends will give up hope once they have found what we have taken great pains in making them believe… That you are dead, completely burned up in a fire," said Ba'al triumphantly "now what do you think?" Jack could not keep his emotions at bay any longer "You BASTARD SON of a …AAAGGGHHHH" he shouted painfully and fainted. One of the Jaffa had applied a lot of pressure to his leg wound to stop him talking. It worked. Very effectively.

"Now throw them in a cell," ordered Ba'al.

"Together my lord?" asked Ba'al's first prime.

"Yes, together at least for now," said Ba'al impatiently. Jack and Sam were hauled unceremoniously through the corridors. Jack was again as he was unconscious. Sam kept throwing him worried looks, he really didn't look too good especially now they had found out who they were captured by, they both would have preferred to die rather than this. They were taken to a block of cells at a reasonable distance to the command centre and were physically hurled into a cell.

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The familiar swoosh of Stargate greeted them as they walked into the gate-room. Daniel looked up at the control room for permission to begin their search of the planet. "Permission to leave granted," said Hammond "and godspeed." They walked through the Stargate, and Hammond sighed he was watching good people go through the gate again so soon after other people had been left behind. He went back to the briefing room to go over some more paperwork. Meanwhile on Serenity Teal'c and Daniel were looking at the surrounding area in some detail. Daniel felt that their search was hopeless and he also felt like nothing was going right for him that day and that was when…

"Daniel Jackson, I have found something I am sure you would like to see," said Teal'c in a strained voice.

"What is it Teal'c?" said a puzzled Daniel. Daniel was wondering what on earth Teal'c had found to promote the weird way in which he was speaking. He walked over to Teal'c and found him staring, and staring at the ground. He turned and looked at where Teal'c was looking.

"Oh Jack, Sam what did they do to you? THIS CANNOT BE HAPPENING, WHAT COULD HAVE CAUSED THIS?" shouted Daniel angrily. On the floor in front of him lay two burnt corpses bearing the dog tags of General Jack O'Neill and Colonel Samantha Carter. Daniel couldn't take it anymore, _I need revenge_ he thought maliciously.

"Do not worry Daniel Jackson; we will not leave them unavenged. I swear to you, you have not died in vain," said an emotional Teal'c. Who for the first time in awhile was finding it difficult to master his emotions. He could feel the anger and pain coming of Daniel in waves.

"Dr Jackson, Teal'c we have something here," said one of the members of SG-5.

"What is it?" snapped Daniel. Teal'c wasn't surprised at his reaction it was not the right time to be interrupted.

"The Jaffa, look like they are Ba'al's Jaffa," said the unsuspecting SG-5 member.

"Thank you; Siolo I need you to take these two bodies very carefully back to the SGC. We must preserve them the best we can," instructed Teal'c. Teal'c had decided that they needed absolute proof before they jumped to any conclusions concerning the identity of the two bodies. "Let us return through the Stargate and report to General Hammond. We must let him know how the investigation is going and these new developments," said Teal'c in an emotional voice with concern for his desolated team-mate.

"Ok Teal'c lets go," said Daniel in a hollow voice and suiting his action to his words he began to walk aimlessly back to the Stargate. To Daniel everything had lost its normal colour, everything had turned a murky grey even the normally bluish wormhole through which they always travelled looked dull and grey. When they arrived back at the SGC they were greeted by General Hammond.

"Well, what happened?" he asked noticing the terrible expression on Daniel's face and the look of anger on Teal'c's normally impassive one.

"I am afraid we have bad news General Hammond," said Teal'c "but I believe that we had better go into the briefing room and tell you what we found." With that they all left leaving the gate-room staff wondering what news would bring three great leaders of their facility to such sad looks.

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AN: Hmmm hope you enjoyed this, as ever plz r and r and a great big thanks to those who have already reviewed me! 


	4. Chapter 4 Anubis

AN: Well this is a shorter chapter, sorry about that.  
Disclaimer: See first chapter.

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Chapter 4  
Anubis

"General," said Sam.

"Hmm."

"General."

"What?" said Jack indignantly.

"How are you feeling?" said Sam concerned.

"Like Hell, what about you?"

"No injuries sir, a little bit tired but other than that ok."

"Where are we?"

"A cell a little way off from the command centre. We have gone to hyperspeed," said Sam feeling depressed by all that had happened since they had gone back to the planet. However, there was one good thing the, the General had woken up and was able to talk.

"Have you found anyway out of this cell yet?" asked Jack.

"Well as far as I can tell there could be a way out through the roof panel. However, you would not be able to make it with that leg, sir," said Sam.

"Carter, then you go I won't let that happen to you," said Jack. He knew he didn't need to elaborate on what that was because he knew that they had both been thinking about it since they found out it was Ba'al. He shivered and said again: "Go, Sam, you have to please," his voice had taken on a note of pleading and she could tell he was in pain both physically and mentally. However, she would not budge on this matter, "No sir, I won't leave you to that either. We will not have to face it alone. Anyway Daniel, Teal'c and General Hammond will find us. It will be ok, Jack," said Sam. This was the first time that she had properly said his name and they both knew that it was only under such extreme circumstances that the distance between them could not be maintained.

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"Sir, a communication is coming in from Lord Anubis."

"Put it on screen," said Ba'al.

"Yes sir."

"Greetings Ba'al, you indicated that you had captured something of worth, said Anubis.

"Yes, Mighty one, I have captured two of the Tauri: General Jack O'Neill and Colonel Samantha Carter. What would you like me to do with them?" asked Ba'al.

"Start their torture as soon as you arrive at your stronghold. I believe that they have both had some experience with you. I would give you one of the machines which allows you to read their minds, but I do not have any spare at the moment. However, do your best. I will contact you soon to get a report." Anubis disappeared from the screen and Ba'al heaved a sigh of relief. Soon for Anubis was never less than a month. He went back to thinking on what sort of torture he would use this time. The Tauri were hardy people and yet very, very annoying.

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"So you are saying that those two burnt out bodies you brought back were wearing the dog-tags of the General and the Colonel. But we do not know for sure it is really them?" said General Hammond unbelieving.

"Yes sir, that basically sums it up." Daniel was now staring at the table wearily. He just could not believe it. He had known Jack O'Neill ever since his son had died and Sam for 7 years, no way was this happening. He was not going to be able to hide his impatience for very long.

"Can't we send a ship to go after Ba'al?" asked Daniel.

"No we cannot spare the ships at the moment," said Hammond tiredly.

"But, we cannot let BA'AL GET AWAY WITH THIS WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING," shouted Daniel desperately.

"Son, I know what you are feeling but we don't know where he is and it will also not bring Sam and Jack back to us. Isn't that right Teal'c?" said Hammond.

"That is correct General, but Daniel and I must do something, we cannot just sit around," said Teal'c with a worried glance at his friend.

"I am ordering you to get some rest, the both of you, do not go off base, but you can move around freely otherwise. You have both been up for over 24 hours. Now sleep," General Hammond ordered. Daniel went out of the room looking angry, tired sad and scared all at once, with Teal'c not far behind. General Hammond sighed, his old team which was the most closely knit team he had ever commanded. Gone in a matter of hours. Those Goa'uld's had some paying to do.

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The ship landed with a skilled descent and a very slight bump. Meanwhile Jack and Sam were taken from their cell and were dragged out of the ship onto the planet. The planet was very beautiful with many trees and rivers and lakes. It was very quiet but this was really no surprise to anyone. The prisoners were silently hauled into Ba'al's stronghold and taken to their new cells.

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AN: Hope that it was ok, please tell me what you think. 


	5. Chapter 5 Some news

AN: Sorry taken awhile to update but now it isnt the holidays anymore the updates will be slower. Hope you enjoy the chapter though, warning for torture but not very explicit.  
Disclaimer: See chapter 1.

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Chapter 5 – Some news

The strain was really getting to Hammond, these last few days had been hell. The fact that at that moment Teal'c knocked on his door made it worse.

"Come in Teal'c, what can I do for you?"

"General Hammond, I have been thinking on this matter very hard. Could we not ask the Tok'ra, Jaffa or Asgaard about where Ba'al might be now?" Teal'c's voice betrayed some emotion which would not normally be heard by anyone. Hammond knew that it was only the hgought that he had lost his team-leader and brother-in-arms that had provoked this change in Teal'c. In fact everyone on the base was close to despair at the moment, especially Daniel Jackson and Teal'c.

"We have already sent transmissions to them all and we have also sent the burnt out victims to the Tok'ra. We decided that if there was something to find then they would probably find out more quickly than we could," said Hammond not at all sure what to do with Teal'c and Daniel. At the moment he had them confined to base, but he knew that they would stay on base even without that order.

"I am sorry to have disturbed you General Hammond. I will not keep you any longer. Thankyou," with that Teal'c left the room. He started back to his room for more thought. He knew his friend Daniel Jackson would be in his work room studying something in order to take his mind off everything. Teal'c did not wish to disturb Daniel and Daniel also did not want to disturb Teal'c, hence they hadn't seen each other for several hours. Teal'c resolved to visit him in a few hours time.

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Ba'al was wondering what he should do with the prisoners in order to find out the information Lord Anubis wanted. Of course it would not be nice, but he had different techniques to choose from.

"Jaffa, bring me the female, Samantha Carter, do not answer any questions they may ask, jus bring her," he ordered menacingly. After a short while Sam was brought into the room with a look mixed with determination, anger and fear. In fact Ba'al's interpretation of her feelings was correct. Sam knew how cruel Ba'al was from treatment received before. Sam was lead into the centre of the room in front of Ba'al and was made to kneel.

"Now Samantha, why were you on that planet" said Ba'al confidently.

"What is it to you?" replied Sam, sounding calmer than she felt. She was certain that some sort of torture was going to follow so what she said really didn't matter.

"Well, I am the one doing the asking you need to answer me or I will unlock those restraints," said Ba'al ominously. This sounded like a strange threat to Sam, but she shuddered anyway.

"I will not ask you again before I unlock them," warned Ba'al. Sam resolutely remained silent.

"It is on your head then, and remember I can revive you again and again and again." Sam regarded him with horror, but she was not surprised because she remembered Jack suffering horribly from withdrawal symptoms from the sarcophagus. Ba'al released her from the restraints, and then she felt the pain. At first she didn't understand where it was coming from, then however, she realised. Above her and behind her was a machine which seemed to have needles looking at her, it was then more than ever that she felt the crashing weight of fear. The needles dug into her and she knew that although one needle on its own would not be fatal, this many would be. As she thought this she looked at Ba'al and felt more hatred than ever before. He indicated that she could tell him and he would stop the pain, but Sam wouldn't. Sam would not even make a sound if it would please Ba'al. The last thing she heard before she lost consciousness was "Remember, I will see you soon." The she fell into darkness.

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"Teal'c, Daniel sit down," said General Hammond. Hammond was sad at the agonized faces that sat before him, but before he could give them any hope Teal'c said: "For what purpose have we been summoned, General Hammond?"

"Well, the Tok'ra sent Freya to give us this news," said Hammond. Freya loomed out of the shadow and then fixed Daniel and Teal'c with a tired smile.

"The remains you brought back bore no resemblance to Sam or Jack, although the dog-tags were definitely theirs. The Jaffa must have planted his evidence to fool us." Said Freya.

"So what can we do, do the Tok'ra know where Ba'al's new fortress is?" asked Daniel speaking for the first time in a hopeful voice.

"Unfortunately the Tok'ra do not at this time have this information. It is so frustrating, but we have had not contact from our agents for awhile," replied Freya.

"This however, does not mean that we give up on O'Neill or Samantha Carter," asked Teal'c.

"No it doesn't, however, I can only give you a month in which to find them due to the fact that, that is all the time the authorities will permit," said a slightly angry General Hammond.

"What happens after a month and we still haven't found them?" asked Daniel.

"Then we hold a remembrance ceremony and you go back to being a working unit with new personnel. I am very sorry that is all the time I could get for you," said Hammond regretfully. Daniel was however still hopeful and although he knew that a month would go very quickly, he also knew that he could find them.

"Permission to get to work, General?" asked Daniel suddenly.

"Permission granted son," said Hammond contented that he had at least given them some hope that they would see Jack and Sam again.

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AN: It is also a bit of a short chapter, however I would love it if you reviewed and told me what you think.


	6. Chapter 6 Memorials

AN: For everyone that reads my stories I would like to say that I will probably update one of the stories every weekend. This means I will be updating once a week. Anyway I hope that you enjoy this chapter!  
Disclaimer: See chapter 1

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Chapter 6 – Memorials

Jack was in pain, mentally and physically. Of course Ba'al had taken Sam first to be 'questioned' because they could put her in the sarcophagus and revive her. _Whereas with me the Jaffa would want to have the greatest advantage possible due to my injured leg. By leaving me until after Carter I will be in worse pain by the time they get around to 'questioning' me. _His thoughts were interrupted by the bang of his cell door. He looked up. "Sam are you ok?" exclaimed Jack worried, as she staggered towards him.

"Um, no but I will be in time I think," she said rather disorientated after the experience of the sarcophagus. As soon as Sam had sat down the Jaffa moved threateningly towards Jack.

"You will come with us. You will cooperate, the price of non-cooperation your friend can testify to. Now come." With one last look at Sam, Jack was led away by the Jaffa. Sam had not had time to tell him what this new sort of torture consisted of. However, from her expression he could tell it would not be nice.

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"Jack O'Neill, now I asked your colleague Samantha Carter why you were on that planet, but she would not tell me. So I thought I might try you instead, she learnt that the price of not answering was high. I personally hope that you will need a demon" demanded Ba'al. Jack immediately remembered why he hated Ba'al (apart from the torture). Ba'al always did talk more arrogantly and confidently than the rest of the system lords put together. This was running through his mind while he gave the standard response ingrained into him for torture situations.

"My name is Brigadier General Jonathon 'Jack' O'Neill, United States Air Force, my…"

"Yes yes, I know all that, I have a good memory of you telling me that a good hundred times. Although then you were not a General. Now tell me what were you doing on the planet?" said Ba'al obviously exasperated.

"No, I won't tell you. Now what are you going to do?" replied Jack bravely.

"I will release your bonds," said Ba'al releasing them at the same time as saying it. To Jack this sounded as ominous as it had to Sam. he began rubbing his wrists and looking about nervously. He then decided to do a mind game to stop him thinking about too much about what Ba'al was going to do. The mind game included looking at every single object in the room and giving a name for it. However, his thoughts were overridden by the pure pain he felt going up him in waves. The waves seemed to start from his injured leg. Bravely Jack decided to look down and to his horror he saw needles, lots of them. He looked at Ba'al and saw that he was enjoying every minute. Ba'al said "so do you fancy telling me why you were on that planet?"

"Never, not in a mill-ion y-e-a-rs," said Jack struggling with pain. He thought that it could not get worse until Ba'al said:  
"Never mind, we have plenty of time to work on you, as you well know. For now I get to see you in pain." Suddenly he could feel a lot more needles poking into him from every direction. His last coherent thoughts were that one day Ba'al would be destroyed along with his torturing techniques.

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Jack woke up, he was in a sarcophagus. It immediately opened and he was led by Jaffa back to the cell.

"Sir, are you alright?" asked Sam.

"Yes Carter, why?" he said "how long have I been gone?"

"By my count about a day, maybe longer," she said dubiously. Sam was at a loss to what to say she could only surmise they had gone through the same thing.

"Sir, was it… the … nee..."

"Carter lets not talk about it," Jack cut her off.

"They are another thing that we can add to our most hated objects in the world. Now, let's talk about something happier," he said. Well now she knew and was happy to oblige him with his request. It would be good to know more about the General.

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1 month later at the SGC.

Daniel was not pleased. He knew what General Hammond was going to say even before it had left his mouth.

"I am sorry people we have had a month and we could find no trace of them. You have to go back to work. There is a memorial service scheduled for tomorrow at 0930hrs. Dismissed." Everyone left the briefing room with glum faces leaving Teal'c and Daniel alone. They had all gone through so much together and now to end like this. It didn't seem possible to Daniel that they were not going to come back. Teal'c seemed to sense what Daniel was thinking and said:

"I am sorry Daniel Jackson, there was nothing more that we could have done in the time frame that we had. I only hope that their sacrifice was not for nothing!

"Teal'c, their sacrifice will never be for nothing not as long as we still fight the Goa'uld and ultimately destroy them. This I promise," Daniel said angrily and walked out. Teal'c was left alone in the briefing room and he was not sure what to do. He was very sad that formidable soldiers such as Jack O'Neill and Samantha Carter were lost to them. Jack, Samantha and Daniel made up his family along with Bra'tac and Ry'ac. He had never felt he belonged before he had come to live with the Tauri. Now for the first time since he had been welcomed to the SGC by Jack O'Neill he felt that the place no longer had the same good environment it had always had. Now it was filled with despair, pain, anger and depression. Tomorrow would hail the day when they were officially giving up on the General and colonel and it did not feel right. Lost in his own thoughts he walked back to his quarters.

0925hrs the SGC.

General Hammond was looking out of the briefing room window down to the people drifting around in the gate room. The people there were people with Security clearance and other offworlders. Included in the party were Bra'tac, Ry'ac, Freya, Thor, Cassandra, Teal'c, Daniel and all of the members of the SGC. Hammond spent a long time wondering fruitless things such as how something like this could have happened. Jack, Sam, Daniel and Teal'c were the best team the SGC had possessed (even while Jack was a General). It meant that now the world and other worlds were likely to be a little less safe than they had been. His reverie was disturbed by Major Davis.

"Sorry sir, everything is ready for you," he said apologetically.

"Ok, son, I am coming," he said resignedly. He walked slowly down to the gate room and was greeted by rows of people standing to attention facing the gate. Daniel, Teal'c, Bra'tac, Ry'ac, Thor and Cassie stood next to the podium set up and facing the two empty caskets covered in the American Flag. He walked to the podium and began his speech.

"There are no words in which I can express my sorrow for the passing of these two fine airmen, General Jack O'Neill and Colonel Samantha Carter. They did their jobs well and they saved many if not all of us many times over. With their passing this world and many other worlds are less safe as they were part of our most formidable team this country has every seen. For this we thank them. However, although they can no longer be with us, it does not mean we should give up in our fight against the Goa'uld. Instead we should work harder to eventually conquer them, only then will our duties to Jack and Sam be fulfilled. Thank you."

As soon as General Hammond had finished his speech the stars and stripes were ceremoniously folded and given to Daniel and Teal'c, who passed them onto Thor and Cassie. Daniel and Teal'c then lifted the two empty caskets and sent them through the gate in solemn silence, each trying to hide their tears but ultimately failing.

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"Sam, this is getting old, we have not got through talking about, half our lives so far and we are still no further along in working out how to get out of here. Unless you worked something out while I was gone?" said Jack exasperated. They had undergone Ba'al's 'questioning' for almost a month. The only reason that neither one had succumbed to the evil power of the sarcophagus was because there were two of them so they were in for less time than they would have been if it there had only been one of them.

"No, Jack, I haven't found anything out yet. All the Jaffa seem to be loyal to Ba'al or Anubis because I have tried to talk to them!" said Sam downhearted. Jack was understood why she was downhearted, Sam had always got them out of situations like this before, but Jack still did not stop having confidence in Sam as she still gave him hope. Jack sat down beside her and put his arm around her. Jack needed the human contact and he knew instinctively that Sam did not mind as she had such a need as well. They sat there in silence, not one of an awkward kind, but a comfortable silence just sharing each others company. They knew that this experience had drawn them closer together and for once they were not denying it.

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AN: Plz read and review I like knowing what people think, hope everyone has had a great weekend!


	7. Chapter 7 Hope

AN: Sorry I haven't posted in awhile, I have been busy working, going home and occaisionally having really lazy moments!  
Disclaimer: See first chapter!

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Chapter 7 – Hope

3 Months later

"Unscheduled off-world activation, I repeat unscheduled off-world activation." General Hammond immediately responded. He had temporarily taken over command of the SGC until someone else could be found.

"We have the Tok'ra IDC coming through."

"Open the iris" Hammond said. Freya appeared through the Stargate and General Hammond instantly hurried down to the gate room. The look on Freya's face was difficult to make out. It looked like a mixture of elation, anger and sadness. Hammond asked her: "what is the matter Freya?"

"I have news," said Freya.

"What sort of news," asked Hammond perplexed at what sort of new would bring the Tok'ra.

"I think we should wait until Teal'c and Daniel are here," she said mysteriously.

"Ok, well come up to the briefing room then. Daniel and Teal'c will come quickly, Teal'c obviously lives on base, but Daniel hasn't been home for about a month!" said Hammond leading her upstairs.

Freya and Hammond were seated around the briefing table when Teal'c and Daniel walked in. You could see the toll on them from the last few months. Teal'c although never very emotional had smiled only once or twice. Now no one got a smile. Daniel looked lost, with his shoulders drooping and looking at everything with black circles around his eyes.

Teal'c surprised everyone by asking: "for what purpose are you here Freya?"

"As I have said to General Hammond here, I have some news," said Jacob gravely.

"Come on Freya what about?" said Daniel impatient.

"Concerning Jack and Sam," said Freya. At this everyone around the table looked up with more interest and Hammond said: "well, what about them?"

"They are alive and in the hands of Ba'al. We have just heard from one of our Tok'ra operatives in Ba'al's service who was finally allowed to guard them," said Freya.

"What did this operative know or find out?" said Daniel more eagerly and slightly losing the lost look he had earlier.

"Only that they are alive and…" she trailed off.

"And what?" Hammond asked.

"Well Ba'al is trying to get some information from them."

"Concerning what Freya?" Teal'c asked.

"The operative didn't know." Freya answered ominously.

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Ba'al was having a bad day. The prisoners had yielded hardly anything at all and Anubis wouldn't hold off for long. Thinking about Anubis he was meant to be contacting Ba'al soon. Ba'al was not looking forward to it. An insistent voice broke through his thoughts.

"My Lord we have a communication from Lord Anubis."

"Put it through," Ba'al snarled at his first prime.

"Ba'al what information have you gathered so far?" said Anubis in a calm, scary voice.

"We have learnt that the prisoners are called General Jack O'Neill and Colonel Samantha Carter. They are high up in the SGC…"said Ba'al trying to look confident in the information.

Anubis interrupted him: "We already have that information, have you ascertained why they were on the planet which you were exploring?" It was difficult for Ba'al to hide his surprise. How did Anubis know who the prisoners were?

"I am afraid not My Lord, we have not ascertained why they were there. However, they are close to talking My Lord," Ba'al was feeling a little bit more anxious now. He had no idea how Anubis would react to this. No that is not entirely true, Ba'al did know, but he did not know what his punishment would be.

"THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE, LORD BA'AL." Anubis shouted "I will be there in 2 weeks, by then you MUST have some results of your 'questioning' or I will have to do it my own way and then this puts the end of your fun." Again Ba'al was surprised he never realised that Anubis knew this bit of information about him as well. He replied: "yes My Lord" and terminated the conversation. Ba'al had some thinking to do. He had to devise a new way of getting the information within 2 weeks.

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It felt like hell, not that she had ever been to hell. Hang on what was she thinking she had been to hell that time when her dad had got caught by one of the goa'uld. Can't remember the name, Daniel would know. Anyway Apophis was there and in the end everyone was ok, that was all that mattered. Hmm so back to this hell, well she figured she was going a little bit crazy from the sarcophagus and then there was "ohmigod Jack."

She concentrated on her surrounding and it had a lot of nightmarish qualities. There was Ba'al whose features had been burned in her mind towering over Jack. Jack and Ba'al and the rest of the Jaffa were all looking at her, then she realised that she had said her last thought out loud. "sorry" she said apologetically.

"Now as I was saying before that little interruption I need to know why you were on that planet which I have heard from my Jaffa you called Serenity," he gave a snort "now I will have my information from one of you, or you will have to watch the other die, over and over again. Do I make myself clear?"

Jack looked up and said "Crystal". Sam looked at Jack and she knew she couldn't bear to see him die over and over and she knew the exact same thought was passing through Jack's mind as well. "Jack," she began.

"Sam, don't worry, it will be ok."

"No it won't I can't stand it anymore," Sam said thinking quickly. It wasn't far from the truth but Ba'al didn't know that. She glanced quickly at him, he was enjoying every minute of this. The she said to Ba'al viciously "we were on that planet for some paid leave. We were on holiday. I guess they will be paying us a lot more for this. Now will you let us go?"

Jack looked surprised for a second and then quickly smoothed his features into an anguished look instead. He then proceeded to shout at her: "Sam, why the hell did you do that. Why did you give him that?"

"We cannot go on like this, it is slowly killing us," Sam responded in anguish. She really did not need to act much to get the right tone.

"SHUT UP" Ba'al shouted and then proceeded to burst out laughing.

"Pathetic try, you think I would believe this story? Do you think me that gullible? Now who shall it be? Hmm yes since Samantha was the one to tell the lie I think she must watch the torture of O'Neill here. Jaffa Kree."

Sam watched in agony as the needles were applied to Jack and the sound in the room could be described as terrifying: a mixture of Ba'al's laugh, Jack's screams and Sam's pleading screams. The when Jack was unconscious but not quite dead they revived him and they had to go through it all again. Then they put him back in the sarcophagus and they took her back to their cell. She had a day of thinking before Jack was brought back.

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"Sam!" said Jack. He realised how much he had missed her. Although you don't have conscious thoughts in the sarcophagus, Jack did know that he had seen her image there with him like a guardian angel.

"Jack, before you ask I figured something out which has been puzzling me," Sam said.

"Does this have anything to do with getting gout of here?" Jack asked hopefully. They both knew they could not withstand this for much longer.

"No," Sam looked downhearted "I have been wondering why they put us into the same cell," she plowed on "doesn't it make more sense in separating us so we can't try to make an escape of something."

"Makes sense, where are you going with this?" Jack asked.

"Well I think that Ba'al wanted an extra tool against us- our relationship. He wanted to know what we mean to each other…" Sam broke down in tears.

"He knows and we have no way of stopping him use it. So I am going to say this now and know that I mean it. You Sam Carter mean the world to me, you always have an always will. Sam I love you," he finished, put his arm around her and held onto her as if his life depended on it. Sam looked round at him and said brokenly: "you too Jack, I love you." They embraced like that for what seemed like an eternity.

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Meanwhile at the SGC. Teal'c was sitting at the briefing table with Daniel; they were both in silence as they were both deep in thought. Teal'c wondered how O'Neill and Sam were doing. They would be almost going crazy by now from Ba'al. What was worse was that they hadn't got them out of their prison. Teal'c knew that Daniel was also feeling what he himself was feeling; they could not get away from it. A bang interrupted his reverie. General Hammond, Freya and several Jaffa came in. They had just got seated when Thor beamed in.

"Thor, welcome to our briefing. I hope we can all work together peacefully in this mission," said Hammond with a pointed look at the Jaffa and Tok'ra.

"I am sure that everyone will work peacefully to bring O'Neill and Samantha Carter back in one piece," said Thor. Teal'c then decided that the briefing should be started because this was getting them nowhere.

"General Hammond should we not concentrate on getting O'Neill and Samantha Carter out of Ba'al's little prison?"

"Yes of course. According to Tok'ra intelligence there are various ways into Ba'al's fortress. However, the first problem is getting onto the planet. It does not have a Stargate. We will have to use one of the Asgard ships to beam people into the woodland on the surface. While other Jaffa will take ships. They will go in and pretend to want to ally themselves with Ba'al. Meanwhile the Asgard ships will destroy the defence systems, this will mean that the members of the SGC teams can move around freely. They will find Jack and Sam and then as soon as they have been found the forces inside will send a communiqué to Thor and everyone will be beamed out, however, the Tok'ra operatives will be left there so that we can send another proper strike against Ba'al. Now any questions?" asked General Hammond.

"Why is this not designated as a proper strike on Ba'al? It seems to me he will be hit pretty hard," asked Daniel.

"Yes, but we are not doing this for Ba'al we are doing this to get Jack and Sam back. Once we have them and they have recovered we can plan a strike on Ba'al which will hopefully leave him permanently crippled or better yet dead. For this mission we will not be using all our personnel, we are going to be stealthier. The next confrontation, however, we will not be hiding!" General Hammond explained " anymore questions? Is the plan acceptable to everyone?" There was a general consensus of no more questions.

"Let us get to work then."

Everyone departed leaving Daniel and Teal'c alone again. This time they did not feel so guilt stricken. They were going to go and do something to help their friends and they both felt restored as a consequence to this thought. They left the briefing room together.

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AN: Again I am sorry, but I would be extremely appreciative if you could read and review, hopefully I will be putting the next chapter up tonight as well. 


	8. Chapter 8 Rescue

AN: As promised the other chapter!  
Disclaimer: see first chapter!

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Chapter 8 – Rescue

Jack and Sam were curled up together in the corner of the room asleep. Ba'al had not come for either of them in 3 days. They had not slept in 2 days because of the nagging question of why. Why was Ba'al not summoning them? In the end they had fallen asleep exhausted.

A soft bang could be heard: bang…bang…bang, it got closer and closer. Jack woke up with a start trying to work out what had woken him up. Bang. He wondered what was going on. He looked over at Sam and he had just become resolved not to wake her up when BANG. Something hit right overhead and the whole complex began to shake. Sam woke up with the noise and the shaking.

"What.. what is going on?" she asked sleepily.

"I don't know, but it sounds like someone is not very happy with Ba'al. I have to say though I don't say I don't blame them. Hang on that could be…"

"Teal'c and Daniel," they said simultaneously. Suddenly they were both wide awake and looking out of the door.

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Teal'c and Daniel were beamed onto the surface with some Jaffa and SG teams 2, 4, 5 and 7. Hopefully the deception with Jaffa ships had already started and the Asgard had already started to bombard the fortress.

"Ok, everyone spread out and make for the fortress, try to evade the security, but if not then take them out. Now GO!" shouted Teal'c not in his customary manner during the whole of his orders. They spread out in groups with Teal'c and Daniel leading. Daniel turned to his friend: "did you practice that T?"

"Yes Daniel, General Hammond and several other people have continually remarked that I could relax my diction occasionally and so, I thought that I could try it out," Teal'c spoke perfectly.

"Yes, that is a good idea," said Daniel a bit perplexed at this new development.

"Daniel, let us now focus, look we are almost at the fortress, but this is odd, there seems to be more security," said Teal'c worriedly.

"Don't worry, we can slip past them, look, they are distracted by the Asgard bombardments," said Daniel. Daniel felt a bit worried for his friend, he was not acting like normal and they all needed to focus on the job at hand: rescuing Jack and Sam. All the same it was bit weird that there was more security. Bang, Bang, BANg, BANG. The bombardment had got steadily louder and with the last bang the security field went down which meant that all the teams could move around freely.

"All teams, we have a go, I repeat we have a go," said Teal'c on his radio. At the same time they navigated around the guards and found themselves in Ba'al's fortress.

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Bra'tac, Ry'ac and some other Jaffa had landed their ships and pretended to be there on a mission to become allies with Ba'al. They had done everything completely correctly and yet they had been shut up in a room in the incredibly large fortress. Bra'tac was getting worried and there was nothing that he could do about it. They could also hear the bangs overhead and then realised that as soon as the security shields and everything failed then they would be able to go after Jack and Sam.

"Ry'ac, everyone, as soon as we hear the security go down we make a run for it and start looking for Sam and Jack. Is that clear?" Bra'tac asked.

"Clear," everyone acknowledged. They settled down to wait some more. The Jaffa were all alert although they tried to make it look like they were just bored. Then they suddenly heard the BANG!

"JAFFA KREE" They rushed out of their holding room and into the corridor beyond, they split up into two groups, one going left and one going right. The whole plan was for them to search this side of the fortress with the troops coming in from the forest to search the other trying to avoid any Jaffa they found on the way. Bra'tac and Ry'ac both went left and the search began.

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Jack and Sam were still crouching by their door looking incredulously around at what was happening. The Jaffa were in chaos, their normally calm exteriors displaying a kind of panic as they realised someone had almost completely overrun the fortress. However, it was not the fact that there were so many bangs overhead, it was more the thought of what Ba'al would do when he found out about the ships in orbit and the reactions of the Jaffa. Then suddenly the Jaffa seemed to calm down as if someone had just issued orders. Some Jaffa went one way, the others went another way and last but not least two were left to guard the prisoners. Jack felt so tired, more tired than he cared to admit to anyone and he was also very curious and his adrenaline was pumping. He looked over at Sam and almost saw the exact same feelings in her eyes. However, there was also an almost overwhelming look of protectiveness for him, which made him wonder how much of himself which was held in the small corner of his heart had he shown to Sam.

Sam was tired and she wanted to get out of the cell and she could see Jack did also, but she also could see a tiny peep of that privacy which Jack hardly ever showed except when he was overwrought. She did feel protective and she wanted Jack to know she was there and hopefully would always be there, but she didn't have the words to describe what she felt. She then realised that he could probably understand what she was feeling anyway, he may not be as technologically aware as she was, but he was smart and perceptive. A sudden BANG cut through her thoughts like a knife as it was the loudest bang so far. The Jaffa guards looked around anxiously and stayed at their posts.

"How long do you think it takes to find two people held captive by a crazy Goa'uld?" asked Jack pessimistically.

"Yeah, well I suppose it is a large fortress that they have to cover and they have the Jaffa to think about as well!" Sam replied countering the sarcasm.

"Oh well, we will be home in time for tea and I have a lot of catching up to do!" Jack said laughing.

"what catching up?"

"The Simpson's, I didn't press record for this long and it will have run out of video by now!"

"D'oh!"

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Bra'tac was feeling anxious by now, he and his team hadn't found anything yet and they had almost finished their part of the fortress, they had but four rooms to search, it all seemed suddenly futile. It was also obvious that no other team had yet found Jack and Sam because as soon as they were found they were to be beamed up by the Asgard.

Teal'c and Daniel meanwhile were also getting concerned as it seemed Ba'al liked to keep his prisoners secretly hidden in his fortress. They were getting desperate and had already gone through God knows how many guards and they were slowly tiring. When they suddenly came up a corridor that looked more hopeful…

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Ba'al almost grimaced as he walked into Anubis' bridge, but he caught himself and kept his face well schooled as he bowed to Anubis, "My Lord."

"Well, have you found anything out?" asked Anubis.

"No more than before My Lord, they are almost ready to talk another few we…"

"NO," Anubis cut through Ba'al sharply "you have had enough, we will proceed directly to your fortress and I will obtain the information. Go!" Ba'al left the bridge with thoughts best left undescribed and proceeded back to his own ship. It would take two hours to get back to his fortress and in that time he would try to work out a way of stalling him.

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Bra'tac and his team stormed up the last corridor in anguish to find all the other teams which had been deployed in the fortress converging on the same room. Bra'tac recognised Teal'c and Daniel and the rest of the Jaffa and SGC teams. Teal'c took out one of the guards with a zat while he himself took the other out. In the end Jack and Sam stepped around the corner cautiously and everyone was cheering while Jack and Sam looked thunderstruck. Teal'c and Daniel leapt at them and the most amazing and famous team of the SGC hung onto each other for dear life. Before any of them had time to talk, one of the SGC team leaders had radioed the Asgard and the next moment they were on Thor's ship.

"Thor, buddy, I…" broke off Jack unable to articulate what he wished, suddenly he couldn't take anymore and both him and Sam collapsed and the world went black around them.

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Sam woke up and seemed to be surrounded by white. She turned over to see whether everything on that side was white as well, it wasn't which was a surprise. It sort of made more sense if it was all white, but a nice surprise to find out it wasn't. She tried to concentrate on the dark blur in amongst the white but she found she couldn't. Then suddenly her whole body felt on fire and she couldn't breath properly, she slipped back into merciful unconsciousness.

She woke up again, but this time a figure was standing over her expectantly, the figure said something to her as she opened her eyes she tried to concentrate.

"Sam, Sam come on it is ok, you can wake up the worst is over, come on you can do it."

"Whe…wher… where-am-I?" Sam said slowly and very croakily "w-a-t-e-r." The figure gave her some water while answering her question.

"You are at the SGC, do you recognise me Sam?" the figure continued. Sam had to concentrate even harder to see her.

"J-a-net?"

"Yes, that is right, now you relax and go back to sleep you will be better soon," Janet reassured her.

"J-a-c-k?" Sam asked plaintively.

"Will be alright as well," Janet said soothingly "now get some sleep." Janet watched as Sam crept back into her dream world again. Behind her Teal'c, Daniel and Hammond appeared looking worried.

"How are they doing doc?" asked Hammond.

"Well, their withdrawal symptoms are quite bad. They are so severe that Jack has not yet regained consciousness while Sam has come out twice. Without a doubt I am more worried about Jack," Doctor Frasier said concerned.

"Is it such a bad sign that Jack hasn't come out of it yet?" asked Daniel.

"Well, I haven't seen symptoms this bad before and so don't entirely know. Yet Sam, is getting a lot better and today she asked about Jack. I couldn't…" she broke off almost in tears.

"We know Janet," said Daniel shuddering "we all saw the state of them when we found them and we knew it would not be easy."

"I know," replied Janet.

"How are the rest of the teams, Dr Frasier?" asked Teal'c attempting to steer the conversation in another direction.

Janet swallowed and replied " all the teams checked out fine, only one injury to speak of which has almost been healed."

"That is good to know, now I order you to get some rest," ordered Hammond.

"But sir," started Janet.

"No, you must rest, Teal'c and Daniel will be here, I have already ordered them to rest and they fulfilled that order under protest, yet they did it. So go rest," ordered the General not yielding.

"Yes sir," Janet said leaving the room. Teal'c and Daniel immediately sat down in seats by the beds to watch over their friends and General Hammond left them to it. He was glad he had them all back, he needed the assurance that they were there and would get better and be that great team that they had always been.

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Jack was dreaming, he was in his house with a nice cold beer and a fishing rod. It was an oddly comforting dream when suddenly Ba'al appeared with needles "aggghhhh" he shouted himself out of the dream. He opened his eyes slowly to see Daniel and Teal'c and Janet all looking at him: "what?" he tried to ask. Instead it came out as more of a "wghh". He tried again and managed to get it out: "what" and "where is Sam?"

"Jack, I'm here," Sam said from the bed next to him.

"We have been very worried about you. This is the first time you have woke up since you collapsed," Janet said trying to hide her anxiety.

"Oh," Jack said unsure of what to say. Instead he looked at his surrounding and everyone in it with his eyes finally finding Sam's.

"It is good to have you back O'Neill," said Teal'c.

"Yes, we are so happy," said Daniel restrainedly. He looked like he was trying very hard not to hug Jack and only just achieving the goal.

"Now everyone out! Jack and Sam have to rest some more before they can be released from the infirmary. OUT!" she shouted with force. They all filed out abashed for some reason which Jack didn't understand. He did not need to either, he just wanted to look into Sam's eyes and stay there comforted by her look. They sat there for what seemed like hours just looking at each other and holding hands while Janet did tests to ascertain how long before they would be completely well.

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AN: Well I hope that you enjoyed both the chapters I posted this evening, I would love reviews if you could! Thanks. 


	9. Chapter 9 Jack and Sam

AN: Well this is the last of the chapters which I have pre-written and just had to type up; this one is great for all those J/S shippers out there.

Chapter 9 –

Jack and Sam walked into the briefing room to be greeted by the cheers of what seemed like the whole of the SGC. They had only been released by Dr Frasier a week ago and then told they must not talk to people outside the SGC. So they had been allowed to go back to Jack's cabin with Teal'c and Daniel and they had had great fun fishing. This was something which Jack had always wanted to share with Sam, to his delight she actually liked it. They were then finally allowed back to the SGC for their debrief.

"Alright people, dismissed," ordered Hammond gruffly. SG1 stayed with Hammond and they all took their seats around he table…

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(going back in time to just after the attack)

"Lord Ba'al what has happened?" Anubis demanded as soon as they had landed on the world and had surveyed his surroundings.

"My lord my first prime has just informed me that an attack has just taken place, merely an hour ago in which there were many ships and personnel. Jaffa and Tauri were working together and they attacked the base. They located the prisoners and then they all disappeared." Ba'al reported inwardly trembling at what Anubis would do.

"This is unacceptable, did you not post high security when you left?" Anubis demanded.

"Yes, My Lord."

"Well, you must find the prisoners and as soon as you have them then bring them back to me. We must have that information." Said Anubis angrily.

"Yes, My Lord," Ba'al replied leaving Anubis alone again.

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(Back at the debriefing)

"Before we start I would like to say that I am probably going to be retiring very shortly," Jack announced. As soon as he said this there were various starts around the room and Sam said:  
"No, Jack, don't, you know you wouldn't be able to bear it."

"It is my choice, to retire, anyway we can talk about this later," said Jack. Teal'c, Daniel and Hammond all looked extremely puzzled about the conversation which had just taken place. It was also puzzling about Sam's continued use of Jack in place of the General O'Neill it should be. However, they all just shrugged and Hammond asked "so Jack, Sam we know what happened up until the time Teal'c and Daniel went through the gate on P23X 981…"

"Serenity" jack muttered and Sam gave a small smile.

"sorry what was that?" asked Hammond.

"Uh, that is what we decided to call the planet," explained Jack sheepishly.

"Ok, anyway what happened after they left through the gate?"

Jack and Sam looked at each other, wondering who should start, when Jack suddenly decided to start the story.

"Well, soon after Teal'c and Daniel left, we were captured by Ba'al's Jaffa mainly because I was injured. That was when we decided to name the planet and then we were subsequently ringed up to a ship in orbit. First however we saw them put false evidence that we were dead around the area," started Jack.

"We found this evidence O'Neill and we then found out that it was false with the help of the Tok'ra," explained Teal'c.

"Oh, good," replied Jack "so then we met, we met, um" hesitated Jack.

"Ba'al," continued Sam warily "he then had us taken to a cell, together."

"Together?" asked Daniel.

"Yes, together, we couldn't understand it at first either, however, we realised later on. We went to hyper speed and although I thought that there was a possibility of escape, the General would never have made it with his injured leg." Sam recited with a little tension in her voice.

"We landed, and we were taken to Ba'al's fortress. They took Sam first for 'questioning'" Jack continued with the story his back getting stiffer and stiffer as the story carried on.

"He wanted to know what we were doing on the planet and what we had found out," Sam jumped in "then they took Jack and asked him. This carried on for I don't know how long and we did not have any answers for him. When one day…"

"he did the 'questioning' at the same time for both of us. This was when we realised why he had put us in the same cell. He wanted to know what our relationship was. Then suddenly the 'questioning' stopped and we didn't understand it. That was when you guys came and rescued us." Jack finished.

General Hammond looked around the room at his fellow officers and friends. He saw the sceptical look on Daniel's face which implied that there was more to their story. Teal'c was looking impassive as always. The finally back to Jack and Sam, like Daniel he knew there was more to their story, but he also knew that they probably wouldn't get a straight answer if he asked. So he decided to let it go for now.

"Well, people we finally found out why Ba'al was there and what he wanted, Dr Jackson" Hammond asked.

"Yes, of course General, um we found some writings around the artefact and in the end I managed to translate them," said Daniel.

"Of course you would be able to translate them Danny, that is what you are best at," said Jack with a little sarcasm.

Daniel glared at him as he went on "basically it details how the machine can kill, heal and so many more things besides."

"That must have been what Ba'al was on Serenity for, he wanted to make sure we had no knowledge of the device. If we did then he would want to know where it was because otherwise he would not have asked that question over and over again," said Sam almost triumphantly looking over at Jack. Jack loved the look on her face when she had finally worked something out. He sat looking at her a few moments longer then said "General, mind if we go to the commissary or something I'm starving."

"Yes, you are dismissed, but I would like to see you and Colonel Carter back here at 1500hrs," said General Hammond.

"Yes sir," his two finest officers saluted him while inwardly cringing. With that the original SG-1 team left the briefing room using that silent communication they always used. Hammond sighed as he sat back down, he really didn't want to have the conversation he knew he must have with Jack and Sam.

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(In the commissary.)

"So, retiring huh?" Daniel said looking up at Jack who was calmly eating his Jell-O.

"Yes, Daniel, retiring, now drop it." Sam had quickly looked at Jack at Daniel's words and almost laughed at what she saw there. Jack's chocolate coloured eyes looked like venom and she knew that Daniel would go no further with that line of conversation.

"So guys, what's new?" said Sam trying to lighten the atmosphere.

"Well, not much that I notice," replied Daniel.

"In face Daniel Jackson much has changed which we have not really noticed as we were quite distracted," corrected Teal'c.

"Ok so maybe we should have a team night this weekend, we could go out rent a movie, that way we could get sort of reacquainted with life," suggested Jack wolfing down the rest of his meal.

"Great," said Sam.

"I would be honoured O'Neill," said Teal'c.

"I'll come," said Daniel. They left laughing together, Teal'c went to his quarters, Daniel to his lab leaving Sam and Jack alone.

"So, Sam to your lab?" Jack asked.

"Ok, sounds good, and we need to have a talk about this retiring issue," said Sam seriously.

"Aw do we have to?" replied Jack.

"Yes."

"Ok, lead the way."

When they got to her lab, they found a lot of dust everywhere although someone had put dust sheets around haphazardly.

"What a mess," exclaimed Sam quite distraught.

"Don't worry about it, we will be able to clean it up," replied Jack giving her a large hug..

"Ok, so retiring huh, without even talking to me first," said Sam cautiously, knowing that they really had to have the conversation.

"Well I knew I wouldn't be able to get away without that conversation," he admitted still clinging to Sam "so I thought it would be better if I retire, become a civilian and I would still be able to run this base." Sam sighed she didn't quite understand yet there was something he had not yet said.

"But why should it be you who retires, becomes a civilian, why not me?" she asked finally understanding what was bugging her. Jack took a deep breath before answering " well I respect and love you too much to ask you to give up your military career, you worked so hard to gain respect and to become the top in your field, I would never take that away from you," Jack explained. Sam was speechless at this, finally she managed "I love you Jack." With that they started hugging and kissing until Jack broke off to say "Sam, stay here a minute will ya?"

"Course, Jack, I will start clearing up this lab of mine," Sam said curiously. She really wanted to know what he was up to because he had that gleam in his eye. However, she didn't ask him because she trusted him. She began to clear out her lab as he walked out whistling the Simpson's theme tune.

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"So Siler, give this to the General as soon as you see me in the gateroom, ok?"

"Yes of course."

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Someone lurked outside her door, using his Black ops training to stay unnoticed. With her back to him unconsciously whistling the theme tune, he managed to put a blindfold over her eyes before she realised what was going on. A belated "what" issued from her mouth while she started to struggle. "Shhhh, its ok, it is only me." At this she immediately stopped struggling and started giggling "where are we going?" she asked. "You just wait," he replied steering her out of the door. They got some strange looks in the corridors but no one questioned them. Finally they arrived, Jack immediately looked up at the control room, he just glimpsed Siler leaving. He took of Sam's blindfold and smiled as she gasped in awe. "Wow, this is amazing, how didja do this?" Sam asked.

"Well, I had some help from some little grey aliens we all know and love!" Jack replied. Sam looked around again, the gateroom had been transformed amazingly so it was lit by hundreds of candles and looked very romantic, she turned around to find Jack kneeling on one knee in front of her.

"Samantha Carter, would you do me the honour of being my wife?" Sam knelt and kissed him, then whispered "yes, Jack, I love you."

"Here," he replied slipping on her finger a very beautiful ring which held diamonds, they were arranged in the shape of the Earth glyph. Again Sam was speechless, it was just perfect. Meanwhile from the briefing room there was a silent audience, Hammond after reading Jack's letter and his request had not he heart to refuse him, however, he decided he would let them be for another 5 minutes.

"General O'Neill and Colonel Carter to the briefing room please." A disembodied voice said over the pa system. Jack and Sam sighed, this must be Hammond looking for them and it was not even time. "We better go," said Jack while pulling her out of the gateroom and heading upstairs.

"Well, are you really serious about this General?" asked Hammond.

"Yes, sir," Jack saluted smartly "is it accepted sir?"

"Yes, Jack, you may still run this base and yet be civilian," said Hammond "of course this means you have to start calling me George and being nice to me!"

"Yes George!" he replied.

"So Colonel Carter that is a great ring you have there," remarked Hammond.

"Yes, sir thank you sir," she replied.

"So Mr O'Neill have you and this lovely woman here planned any dates?" asked Hammond.

"No and actually it is Dr. O'Neill," he replied. At this Sam looked speechless yet again, he seemed to be surprising her a lot recently. Hammond merely raised an eyebrow.

"Well, that is good, because we are going to go after Ba'al before anything else happens," Hammond informed them.

"I guess team night is postponed then Jack," asked Sam

"Yeah, but we still need to talk to Danny and T before Ba'al," replied Jack.

"Hgm, Hgm, sorry to interrupt but, dismissed," said Hammond smiling as they had obviously forgotten him.

They turned to go and Hammond said quietly "I am happy for you both, Jacob would have been pleased." Both Sam and Jack turned round surprised and then looked at each other happily knowing that what Hammond had said was the truth. Then they turned away to find Daniel and Teal'c.

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AN: Well I hope that you enjoyed this chapter as well, plz read and review, my friends can attest to the fact that it always makes my day! 


	10. Chapter 10 Briefing

AN: Sorry it has taken ages for me to update, and this is only a short chapter but I thought it was better than nothing! Enjoy!  
Disclaimer: see chapter 1.

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Chapter 10 - Briefing

"This is totally unacceptable Ba'al, you will go to Gran (AN: this is a planet) and stay there for awhile, you will be exempt from doing anything for at least one month. You will train your Jaffa harder than ever and you will join in with their training. Now GO!" Anubis admonished Ba'al soundly and Ba'al then left the room.

"Jaffa, Kree, we are to go to Gran and train," said Ba'al to his Jaffa, they all knew what had happened and were not surprised, in fact the fact that Ba'al had lost the prisoners made him lose honour in their eyes. They turned to obey anyway and soon the banished were on the way to Gran for more training.

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Jack, Teal'c, Sam and Daniel filed into the briefing room and were again amazed at the amount of people. However their amazement was quickly put aside as they knew that there would be a lot of people in a raid like this. This briefing was to make sure that everyone knew what was going to happen and that everyone would work together. They sat down in the 4 seats that were obviously for them, then suddenly Daniel got up again with a cry of "VALA", Vala looked round and then shouted "DANIEL" everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and turned around to watch the reunited pair hug. Jack started to wolf whistle at which time Daniel turned around him and fixed him with a stare that if looks could kill Jack would be dead. They sat down again, this time Vala sitting next to Daniel, they both sported big grins. There were a lot of other people in the room that they knew, Cameron Mitchell, Bra'tac, Ry'ac, Thor, General Hammond was there of course, General Landry and Freya, there were of course many more people who had decided to come to the aid of the Tauri in taking down such a monster. The reunions carried on until General Hammond decided to call the meeting to order.

"Now everyone, before we start I would like to announce to the people gathered here that my good friends Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter and Dr Jonathon "Jack" O'Neill are going to be married," said Hammond. A huge cheer rang up and people started to go pale at something which no one would explain to Jack or Sam, Hammond looked around at the paling people happily, he knew why they were suddenly feeling slightly faint. He decided to give them something else to think about.

"Ok, so down to the briefing on how we are gonna get Ba'al," said Hammond "the attack will be pretty much exactly the same as the rescue attempt, except this time we will have the help of Jack and Sam. The Asgard will provide bombardment from the atmosphere to bring any shields down, the Jaffa ships will beam Jaffa and humans down to the surface as will the Daedalus. The old SG1, Vala and Cam will run point and everyone will be backing them up. We want to disable only and we are going to catch Ba'al, understand that everyone?" Hammond was pointedly looking at SG1 when he said this.

"Yes sir," replied most of the room SG1 pointedly joining in with the rest.

"Allright dismissed, go gossip!" said Hammond. Everyone laughed and took his advice. People then came and congratulated Sam and Jack on their upcoming marriage. In the end it was just Sam, Jack, Daniel, Teal'c, Vala and Cam.

"So Cam how's it going?" asked Daniel.

"I'm doing alright, how are you guys coming on, congratulations by the way," he added.

"We are doing fine now, thank you Cam, so this is going to be an interesting raid then?" replied Jack.

"Yes, this will be an interesting raid, and I think that we should all now get ready for it," said Teal'c matter of factly.

"Indeed," replied Jack mocking Teal'c slightly as he put his arm round Sam and they left the room. Teal'c and Cam following behind, then behind them were Vala and Daniel.

"So Daniel, didja miss me?" asked Vala

"No," was Daniel's reply with a slight smile.

"You did, admit it!" replied Vala.

"No, of course I didn't, that's why I didn't shout out VALA in there and give you a big hug in front of everyone," said Daniel stopping and turning to Vala again.

"Yay, got you to admit it!" celebrated Vala who had also stopped and was facing Daniel. They then hugged again, they then went off laughing to get ready for the upcoming mission.

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AN: yes as I said before this is a very short chapter but I wanted to give you something to read! It has taken me quite awhile to be able to post this as had an error for me! Anyway this is also a vala/daniel fic because I just watched 'unending' and really liked it! Anyway please read and review everyone! 


	11. Chapter 11 The attack

AN: Well here is the next chapter, I am sorry but its another short one although this one has a little bit more action in it. However, it is slightly bitty as it goes to many different perspectives. Hopefully this story will be finished soon though, I think maybe 2 or 3 chapters until it will be finished. Anyway I hope that you enjoy it!  
Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.

* * *

Chapter 11 – The attack

"Everyone, you have a go for launch," said Hammond as he was in contact with every ship that would be on course for Gran. "Now we have things to do Siler, we need to be ready for when they return back."

"Yes sir," replied Siler and they both hurried off to make arrangements.

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On Thor's ship newly renamed: The Jack and Sam.

"Congratulations O'Neill, Samantha, you will do well together as I have always thought," said Thor to Sam and Jack. Jack, Sam, Vala, Daniel, Cam and Teal'c had decided to ride on Thor's ship so that they could catch up with Thor as they hadn't had time before.

"Thank you Thor," replied Sam before Jack could say something sarcastic.

"You are welcome Samantha," replied Thor. The rest of the trip to Gran was extremely uneventful, although it did give Sam and Jack a chance to have some alone time.

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The Jaffa watching from the planet were surprised to see many ships come out of hyperspace. There seemed to be many ships, all different types. One of the Jaffa ran to notify Ba'al.

"My Lord, many ships have just come out of hyperspace, there are Tauri, Jaffa and Asgard ships," said one Jaffa to Ba'al.

"Send some ships to intercept them, everyone be ready for an attack," ordered Ba'al. The Jaffa responded smartly by scrambling the fighters.

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"Alright everyone, Ba'al is scrambling fighters so be prepared to fight them off the transport ships," ordered Jack "all those transport ships fly towards the planet and deposit your attack personnel. The attacking ships did as they were ordered, ships started to drop off personnel so they could start a ground attack. Thor's ship was one of them, and the old SG1, Cam and Vala were transported to the planet.

As soon as they arrived on the planet Jack O'Neill ordered "begin the attack on the shields, all ground troops surround the fortress, do not proceed inside yet, we do not want anyone to be hit." Everyone acknowledged the orders. The attack on the shields started with a bombardment similar to that of the rescue mission.

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"Keep those fighters off the main ships, open fire on that ship," ordered Bra'tac on his own ship. He wasn't one of the main transporting ships so he was charged in keeping the fighters from destroying any of the transport and bombardment ships. They destroyed the ship and then moved onto the next one. Soon there were no fighters left for the ships to be threatened by. They then started to help with the bombardment of the shields.

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Inside the fortress there was no reprieve for Ba'al, he knew that they would give them no mercy and he knew that if they were in his place then they would expect no mercy. The loss of the fighters was expected as he knew that they would not be able to actually do anything but maybe delay the attack slightly. He had the Jaffa in defence positions but knew that in the end there were probably too many to hold off. He also knew that Anubis had set him up for the fall, he was resigned to it and he would not let himself be captured. He left the control room.

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The bombardment carried on for at least ten minutes before it was obvious that the shields on the fortress had been taken down. As soon as the shield went down Jack gave out more orders. "All ships stop the bombardment, standby please. All ground troops you can go into the fortress, remember the objective is to find and capture Ba'al, try not to kill if you can help it but defend yourselves at all costs, you have a go." All the ground troops proceeded to enter the fortress from different directions, taking down the Jaffa as they went. SG1, Cam and Vala along with SG2 as back up went through the front door. It was a fierce struggle to get through the main entrance with Cam getting hit in the shoulder.

"Cam, you stay here with SG2 and keep the main entrance open, take down any Jaffa that come your way," ordered Jack, Cam replied with a distinct "No, I will be of help if I come, I will not hinder anyone." Jack frowned but let Cam go with them; he knew that he himself wouldn't have stayed behind so he knew that Cam wouldn't either. Daniel of course was very protective of Vala, however, that did not seem to interfere with any of the battle. They proceeded down the hallway.

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Ba'al meanwhile had set himself up in one of the storage rooms, more precisely the storage room that held all the explosives that he could get his hands on. He looked round satisfied that he would go out with a bang and he would be taking some people with him. He could hear a team of the Tauri's getting closer and closer to his position, it was just a matter of the timing of it. The door opened and as soon as it started to open, Ba'al set the bomb to go off.

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AN: Well I had to leave it there on a cliffhanger because it was just such a perfect one! I will put you out of your misery soon though and tell you what happened. Also if you are wondering why Ba'al is giving up so easily and that he is not formidable at all in this attack well I kinda just wanted it that way so that the story would go the way I wanted lol! Thank you to all those people who have read and reviewed so far. Plz review as I really do get soooo excited when I see I have one! Thanks. 


	12. Chapter 12 Journey Home

AN: Ok I hope that you all like the chapter, I am saying sorry before hand if you are disapointed with it in any way! Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.

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Chapter 12 – Journey home.

Jack looked around at his friends and smiled, he rarely had a chance to smile after a raid of such a kind because every time someone didn't come back or was severely injured. However, this time, although there were some injuries there weren't any major injuries. Cam had to have his arm seen to but with the Asgard's help there was no reason to worry for him. Everyone of course had been knocked around by the blast that had rocked the whole of the fortress. The blast had done a lot of structural damage to the fortress and the Tauri forces had beat a hasty retreat. The Tok'ra operatives got out successfully as well, and the Tok'ra were in general pleased with all the events, they had even got a tentative peace with the free Jaffa.

FLASHBACK

_Ba'al meanwhile had set himself up in one of the storage rooms, more precisely the storage room that held all the explosives that he could get his hands on. He looked round satisfied that he would go out with a bang and he would be taking some people with him. He could hear a team of the Tauri's getting closer and closer to his position, it was just a matter of the timing of it. The door opened and as soon as it started to open, Ba'al set the bomb to go off._

_The backlash of the explosion ripped through the fortress with a lot of force. Every Jaffa, Tauri and Tok'ra alike were taken off their feet. Some slammed into walls and were put unconscious however their team mates soon made sure that they were ok and none had suffered large injuries._

_The explosion however had killed Ba'al instantly and it had also killed the Jaffa of Ba'al's that had gone to investigate whether there were any weapons that could have been of use. Ba'al had thought that it was a Tauri team that had been closing in on his position so had mistakenly set of the bombs at the precise moment that they entered. This was of course his last mistake. _

_The teams of ground troops, retreated on Jack's orders "everyone, retreat back to the designated areas, I repeat get out of the fortress it will collapse." With that all teams retreated back out of the doors that were closest to them. SG1, Cam and Vala found SG2 waiting for them at the main entrance. They all retreated back to the spot from which they had been transported too. _

"_Thor, beam us up buddy," requested Jack. However, before they were beamed back to Thor's ship, they saw that the fortress finally collapsed. _

END FLASHBACK

Over the next couple of hours, Jack had all reports in from every ship to find that no one had severe injuries and that no one had died. Jack watched as Cam was talking to Sam about some complicated device that Sam was building, Cam obviously having absolutely no clue as to what she was talking about but nodding along anyway. Daniel and Vala were teasing each other unmercifully on the other side of the room. Teal'c was standing quietly near him.

"O'Neill, are you ok?" asked Teal'c suddenly.

Jack turned to Teal'c "Yes Teal'c, I'm ok," he replied "although I really wanted to get that bastard myself, I think I can live with the fact that he killed himself in vain." Jack really was ok with it, he knew that he would have liked proper revenge but then he also knew that it probably would not have been wise to let himself get the revenge he wanted. Teal'c was satisfied with this answer and went back to staring out the window. Jack then decided that he wanted to go to the quarters that he shared with Sam and have some quiet time. He signalled to Sam that he was leaving and walked down the corridors whistling a jaunty tune.

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Meanwhile Daniel and Vala had also left and decided to go for a walk together. "So…" started Daniel.

"So what?" replied Vala playfully.

"Well, I just wanted to make sure that it would be alright with you if.." he trailed off again.

Vala looked at him, she knew that this was Daniel being serious and so decided to not play any games. "If?" she asked.

"If, I do this," he replied, he leaned in and gave her a deep kiss, she responded in kind. After a couple of seconds they broke the kiss.

"So from that response I guess you don't mind!" said Daniel looking very happy indeed.

"Daniel, of course I don't mind and before you ask, yes I am very serious about liking you. This is not something that would be short term in my eyes," said Vala seriously.

"Me neither, I'm lucky to have you Vala Mal Doran, and I will defend you at all costs" he said.

"I'm lucky to have you Daniel Jackson, and you know I'll defend you" she replied. With that they kissed again and walked back to Daniel's quarters.

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"Sam, how are you doing?" asked Jack when she appeared in their quarters.

"I'm good I think," replied Sam "I think I might just also be able to sleep without the nightmares, now that Ba'al is gone."

"Yes, I think that I might be able to do that as well, how about we get some sleep?" asked Jack.

"That sounds like a good idea," replied Sam.

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The ships all came out of hyperspace at the same time, this time their numbers were depleted because not everyone wanted or needed to go back to Earth. There was one Asgard ship, all the Tauri ships, and one Jaffa ship. There was also some Tok'ra on the ships but they did not have their own.

"General Hammond are we clear to beam down?" asked Jack.

"Clear to beam down when you are ready," replied Hammond. All the Tauri beamed to the SGC along with Thor, Freya, Bra'tac and Ry'ac.

"Welcome home everyone, welcome to earth," greeted Hammond "I have heard that your mission was a great success. The full debriefing will take place in the morning. However I will tell you now that the day after tomorrow there will be a ceremony taking place here to honour you all for your bravery."

"D'oh, that means dress uniforms," was Jack's reply. Everyone around him laughed as he looked very annoyed at having to wear smart clothes.

"Yes Jack, even you although you have retired, I still insist you wear your old uniform," replied Hammond laughing.

"Damnit," was Jack's only response.

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Anubis was also celebrating the loss of Ba'al at the hands of the Tauri, he had never liked that Goa'uld and was glad to get rid of him. Ba'al had been too slippery by half.

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AN: So I reckon some of you by now are realising how anticlimatic that was, however, I didnt really want any of our characters to be seriously hurt in this raid, I just wanted Ba'al to die really. The next chapter will be the last one and hopefully it will be up later tonight. Thankyou for reading plz review! (It really does put me in a great mood!) 


	13. Chapter 13 The Ceremony

AN: Well this is the last chapter, in this chapter you will all find out why this story was called Jacob's Bet so I hope that you enjoy it!  
Disclaimer: See Chapter 1!

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Chapter 13 – The ceremony

Jack O'Neill stood awkwardly in his old dress uniform next to Sam and Daniel. Vala was on Daniel's other side, Cam and Teal'c were also present. They were making small talk with Thor, Freya, Bra'tac, Ry'ac, General Hammond and many other people who were vital to the running of the SGC and who had taken part in the raid or rescue mission. They were all waiting for the President to arrive in order to start the ceremony.

Suddenly one of the airmen walked up to General Hammond and whispered in his ear. Hammond immediately sprang into action "Attention all personnel please can you make your way to the gate-room, President Hayes has arrived." As soon as the words had left his mouth all the people proceeded to the gate-room and stood in ranks. It took the President ten minutes before he arrived at the gate-room, by then all the people had taken their place in the gate-room.

"Attention" was the shouted order. All military personnel stood to attention as he walked in the room. He made his way up to the podium that stood in front of the Stargate.

"At ease," he said "thank you all for attending this, I came here today to thank you all for your bravery in taking down Ba'al and for actually getting rid of him once and for all." He was interrupted by a large cheer from all the airmen. "I also want to say thank you for getting Dr Jack O'Neill and Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter back safely from his hands, I am sure they also appreciate it greatly. After all we wouldn't want to lose two of our greatest leaders for the SGC would we?" Another cheer rose after his question and Vala shouted "NO", a lot of people laughed at that one.

"So as a reward for something good coming of the SGC once more, there has been an agreement that more resources will be assigned to the SGC to help in future missions. You will also have a larger group of personnel to choose from and I hope that this will help." Everyone looked extremely happy at this announcement as there was always a need for more resources and equipment for research and development and the off-world missions as well.

"Now, I would like Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter to come to the podium to accept her new rank," said President Hayes looking at Sam. Sam walked up to the podium and was accordingly given the full rank of Colonel. She looked extremely pleased if a little embarrassed at having the President give her the new rank. "I would also like to ask Dr Jack O'Neill our recently retired leader, however, still in charge of the SGC to come to the podium to accept an award which has recently been designed." Jack walked up to the podium after Sam had retaken her place and stood next to the President.

"Dr O'Neill I hereby present you with the SG award for bravery, the conditions for receiving this award are that all the people that we have formal dealings with must agree that the person in question has distinguished himself or herself greatly. In this case all of our allies in fact decided that five other people had distinguished themselves in this way, so would Colonel Samantha Carter, Dr Daniel Jackson, Teal'c, Vala Mal Doran and Colonel Cameron Mitchell please make their way to the podium to also receive this prestigious award. They all went up to the podium and accepted their awards, all of them embarrassed at such a distinction although for Vala it was more surprise than anything else. They all went back to their places smartly.

"Now, as you all probably have guessed by now, our own Daniel Jackson and Vala Mal Doran have decided to get together and I would like to wish them all the best in the future," President Hayes started again. He paused while everyone clapped them and Vala and Daniel looked more embarrassed than before, then looking at each other they broke out into smiles instead.

Meanwhile President Hayes had said quietly so that only Thor could hear, "are you ready Thor?"  
"Of course President," replied Thor.

"Now, as you also all know Jack O'Neill and Samantha Carter are engaged to be married," after he had said this Thor pressed a button and all the people who were in the gate-room were transported into the control room of The Jack and Sam. It was only Jack and Sam who were surprised at the transportation, the rest of the people present were not surprised and all looked very satisfied with themselves as they had managed to create such a perfect setting without Jack and Sam finding out. They were all looking out at the earth and it looked beautiful from the distance that they were from it.

"Now, I have the pleasure of being able to marry Jack and Sam," said President Hayes looking at Jack and Sam for their response. They looked at each other and knew that it was the right time and place for them to be married, they nodded at the President. Jack moved to stand in front of the President with Daniel next to him, Vala went to the end of the aisle (created hurriedly!) with Sam and Hammond. Vala handed Sam some flowers and she had some in her own hands. She proceeded down the aisle to the traditional wedding music, she stood to the left side near the President, General Hammond then walked Sam down the aisle in place of Jacob who was unfortunately not able to be there.

As they arrived next to Jack, Sam turned to Hammond and said "thank you sir." "You are welcome Sam," he replied before taking his place.

"And so for the vows, Jonathon repeat after me:

I, Jonathon O'Neill, take you Samantha Carter, to be my wedded wife. To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness or in health, to love and to cherish 'till death do us part. And hereto I pledge you my faithfulness." Jack duly repeated it,

"Now Samantha repeat after me:

I Samantha Carter, take you Jonathon O'Neill, to be my wedded husband. To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness or in health, to love and to cherish 'till death do us part. And hereto I pledge you my faithfulness."

The couple exchanged rings that were hastily handed to them by Vala and Daniel respectively as this was being said, then President Hayes said "you may now kiss the bride." Jack and Sam kissed in front of all the witnesses. "I now give you Dr and Colonel O'Neill, everyone!" Everyone cheered and clapped and Sam and Jack both looked extremely happy.

"Everyone be ready for transport," said Thor as soon as the clapping and cheering had stopped. They were beamed down to the commissary of the SGC which was decorated accordingly and had many refreshments for the reception. There was a large cake in view which had a little mini SG team of Vala, Cam, Daniel, Teal'c, Sam and Jack next to a mini stargate. Sam and Jack loved it, it was so perfect. The reception was not a sit down meal however, there were of course the mandatory speeches made.

First of all Daniel made a speech "Now as everyone knows Jack and Sam have been tiptoeing around each other for so long that no one really thought in the end that this would happen. However, I have to say that we are all very happy for you and we all want to wish you the very best as we always have done. We are a large family and having you two become married has made us all happy, so thank you. Now, I know Jack hates being in the spotlight so I will stop there, but I would also like to say how I am so glad that I met both him and Sam all those years ago. To Jack and Sam." "Jack and Sam" everyone murmured raising their glasses.

Then Jack decided that he had better say something "Thank you Daniel, I would also like to thank every one of you for turning up to this event and I am also amazed that you guys managed to pull it off without Sam and I knowing of it, so well done everyone!!!! I'd like to say thank you to our allies on behalf of our team for awarding us with the SG award for bravery as I know that none of us expected it. However, I would also like for you to raise your glasses for the people that are sorely missed from our lives," Jack finished sadly thinking of Jacob Carter and many other warriors who had lost their lives previously. Everyone raised their glasses in memory of those men and women "now everyone get back to the celebrations and we'll have some of this lovely cake!" There was laughter around the room as they all went back to their previous conversations.

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"Daniel, one day I want to have a wedding like this, although with a smaller load of people, just our close friends," said Vala.  
"I think that, that would be nice," replied Daniel smilingly, he leaned in and gave her a quick kiss.  
"I'm glad you agree," she replied and they hugged before turning to talk to Ry'ac.

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"My old friend, how are you doing?" asked Bra'tac walking up to Teal'c.  
"I am fine thank you Bra'tac," replied Teal'c "I am very happy for O'Neill and Samantha, they will be very happy together."  
"Yes, it is amazing that it took this long before they got together," replied Bra'tac with a sparkle in his eye.  
"Indeed," was Teal'c's only reply to this.

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Cam was talking to Thor on the other side of the room. "That was a great wedding Thor, thank you for the use of your ship," Cam said.  
"I have done what any of my race would do for O'Neill and Samantha, they are well loved by the Asgard and many of us have been wondering when they would get together," Thor replied.  
"Yes, many here have been wondering the same thing," responded Cam laughing.

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"So George, how did this happen?" Jack asked standing with his arm around Sam.  
"Yes I was wondering that as well," said Sam.  
"We-ll, as you might know there has been a pool of betting. The bets were about when you two would finally get together," started Hammond.  
"We were aware that something was going on," replied Sam, while Jack just looked embarrassed.  
"Well, in the end it was actually Jacob who won the bet. He won the whole pot of money, and believe me there was a lot of money in that pot. He left instructions that the money be put towards giving you two the best wedding that the money could buy. So that is what we did," explained Hammond looking sad because Jacob had died and couldn't see his daughter get married. Sam and Jack also looked slightly sad, however, "you two be happy, he knew that you two were in love and he approved, he will be up there in heaven laughing and clapping for you." Sam and Jack looked at each other and again knew that Hammond was correct.

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"Alright everyone get ready for photo's, I want the bride and groom, Thor, Freya, Cam, Vala, Daniel, General Hammond, President Hayes, Bra'tac, Ry'ac, and Teal'c to be in this picture." They all lined up dutifully and the snapshot was taken.

The happy picture stayed on Dr Jonathon 'Jack' O'Neill's desk at the SGC for many years to come.

**THE END**

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AN: Well that is the end; I hope that you enjoyed the story. It certainly took me awhile to write. Even though I only started posting it on fanfic a couple of months ago it has taken me a couple of years to actually finish. Jacob's Bet is finally finished. Plz read and review as you all know how excited and happy it makes me! 

I would like to say thank you to all those that have reviewed me before : Kat Spencer, feb04, Ilovesg1, VisualIDentificationZeta, Aruna Hart Leilina, i.m. nell, SJAuthor, E. Nagrom and a special thank you to atlantis sg1 who gave me the most reviews and encouragement! Thanks!


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